Goth
by Nehal
Summary: Very AU


Goth  
  
Bad Girls  
  
They're three of them- Iz, T-bone and Gremlin.   
  
We call them the coven, because to be quite honest I can actually see them as witches, chanting spells, stirring cauldrons, sacrificing babies- It gives me the creeps. Not that that fazes the male population of Roswell High, to them, the Coven are babes and it wouldn't surprise me if those rumours about Iz giving it to the entire football team in one go were true. They're skanks, whores, bitches, sluts, who have nothing better to do than steal the men of normal morally upstanding girls such as myself-  
  
Iz  
  
Iz, or Elizabeth Parker during those awful times we meet at the country club on the surface at least is the all American little apple of her daddies eye, who can do nothing wrong. She dresses like a Catholic school pupil, with knee length grey pleated skirts, high socks and pristine white blouses that always end modestly below the elbow. Iz parades around school in her Armani heels and Gucci bags like a queen, always smiling widely and waving regally at her many thousands of worshippers. Not that she actually hangs around with any of them. No, Miss American Pie only ever hangs around with T-bone and Gremlin, and on occasion one of the thousands of guys who buy her religious white Virgin Mary routine.  
  
I don't.  
  
T-bone  
  
T-bone, or Isabel Evans at roll call, is a bitch. Unlike Iz, who is remotely popular, and a little redeeming, this one is totally bad to the core. Dope smoking, leather wearing, cock sucking, this little whore is an insult to the entire female population of Roswell, and the world. When she's not high on the drug du jour, T-bone's wrecking mayhem on the streets, car jacking, joy riding, breaking and entering- you name it she does it. Nothing but a little thief, the girl never gets caught she always slips away just as the cops arrive, free to terrorise another day. I hate her the most.  
  
Gremlin  
  
Maria Deluca, or Gremlin for short, is creepy. From the entire Coven, she's the one who sets people on edge, and not because of those emerald eyes that see nothing yet everything or her yellow hair that fades almost silver under certain light, or even her hands that are perpetually covered in tight black spandex. Apparently she's a disaster victim from Venezuela who arrived to America for treatment and stayed. Nobody knows much about her, not even what she looks like under the heavy black veil the girl always wraps around her face. Unlike the other two, Gremlin doesn't sleep around, not that, that changes anything. She's probably lesbian, and we do not need people like that in the community.  
  
We do not need people like the Coven in our school, polluting fine morally upstanding minds. We do not need them.  
  
They must leave. Immediately.  
  
  
Propaganda's Bitch  
  
"I don't like it" Liz Parker stared at the newsletter, or more specifically the front page, her brown eyes darkening in anger as they focussed on her yearbook picture that someone had disfigured to make her look like a lizard. Sure, stuff like this happened all the time, girls in Roswell, especially the under eighteens were a bunch of stuck up bible bashing southern belles that looked down their noses at everyone and everything that was different or unique but nobody had ever gone this far before. A protest. The idea was ludicrous, yet still sent tingles of fear down her spine.   
  
"It's completely stupid. I bet it's just a joke, I mean this is the twenty first century nobody would actually do something like this, it's a-" However, just as Isabel Evans, was about to finish, a soft whirring sound interrupted her, and turning around the girls widened their eyes as Maria wheeled over to them in her sleek ebony electric chair.  
  
"It is a witch hunt" She spoke gently, her green eyes reflecting the sunlight as she watched her friends for a reaction. When the two raised their eyebrows, she raised her chin slightly, sending tendrils of silver white hair cascading onto her shoulders. "They will not stop until they find a witch"  
  
"What do you suggest we do then?" Liz asked gently, absently crushing a drink can in her fist. "Hide?"  
  
"We run" Maria whispered, running a finger across the flat buttons that constituted the helm of her chair. The moment she spoke, Isabel stood up, her amber eyes flashing dangerously for a moment until Liz motioned for her to sit down with a quick glare.  
  
"I'm not running from a bunch of prissy little high school girls that have all the collective intellect of bubblegum! No way!"  
  
"Then be prepared for death. Once these girls start caring about us, they'll delve deeper and deeper until they will somehow add two and two together. Do you want that Isabel? Do you want them to discover our secret?" Maria stared coldly at Isabel and when she shook her head gently the Venezuelan girl raised her hand slightly. "Then we run, tonight. The full moon is auspicious" With a click of her tongue Maria then wheeled away from them, her chair whirring slightly as she manouvered her way through the throngs of people eating out in the grass. Leaving her friends sitting quietly at the quad, their eyes downcast as the newsletter fluttered from the table in the slight breeze.  
  
  
"Hot" Kyle Valenti whistled loudly as the head cheerleader walked past, her short brown suede skirt riding up slightly when she stooped suddenly to adjust one of her four-inch high shoes. Not that he minded of course, the more riding up her skirt did, the greater the expanse of flesh he'd see, and then-  
  
"Kidding? She looks like a Barbie after liposuction!" Alex Whitman laughed loudly earning himself an indignant grunt from the said cheerleader as she walked off in a huff. "What? Did I say something?"  
  
"You my friend are an A grade ass- I almost had her!"  
  
"Yeah right- nut butter?" Alex offered his childhood best friend a paper bag stuffed full of mini sandwiches and grinned widely when Kyle took the entire bag. Peanut butter and jelly was a valued commodity in the Valenti household, especially since the Kyle's Dad had taken up dieting.   
  
"It's true. I'm gorgeous, the star quarterback as well as the epitome of cool, she was putty in my hands!"  
  
Alex just rolled his eyes, before lolling his head towards the quad where the love of his life sat hands on lap as she whispered something to her friend. Isabel Evans- just the sound of her name sent shivers down his spine. There was just something about her- something almost mystical, under all the eyeliner and purple lipstick, which he was desperate to touch, to understand.  
  
"Quit the Evans worship already, it's creepy. You want her, go get her, don't ruin my lunch with all your loser drool!"  
  
"Hey!" Alex turned to face his friend with an indignant look on his face. "I do not drool!"  
  
"Whatever, just be careful" Kyle glanced at Alex quickly before pushing a lime green newsletter onto his lap. "Courtney Hart's got her eye on them" He muttered through a mouthful of peanut butter and jelly sandwich before getting up suddenly when the end of lunch bell rang suddenly. "I gotta go, see you after sixth 'kay?"  
  
"OK" Without turning to Kyle, Alex squinted at the paper in front of him, or more specifically at the picture of Isabel complete with horns and a tail squiggled in red marker. What the Hell was going on?  
  
The Protest March  
  
"Witches out! Heathens out! Witches out!"  
  
The low rumbling chant filled his ears as he ran urging him on like a cattle prod. It didn't matter that he was in the desert now, far away from civilisation, decades away from the troubled era, the fear still drove him. It incensed, frightened and motivated him from the first wisps of dawn to the last vestigial light of dusk when he finally escaped the mob for a few hours. Yet his dreams brought another plight, a plight that caused him more agony than any taunts ever could- her. Her eyes, her hair, her pale ivory body as it danced under his in the moonlight taunted and teased until he woke screaming in drenched sheets. Even now, as the sun rose to its peak he could hear her voice, that sweet syrupy voice that melted his heart during slumber-  
  
"I can feel the stars when you are near me. I hear the moonlight whisper, why is that?"  
  
His pace increased suddenly as a low moan invaded his senses despite the hot sun directly on his exposed back.   
  
  
"Witches out! Lesbians out! Witches out! Heathens out!"  
  
Maria Deluca watched the group of ten or so girls carefully from under dark glasses, a small hand clutching her purse tightly as she walked over to the throng of people gathered outside watching the girls as they 'demonstrated'.  
  
"Pathetic- Courtney's only doing this because Pete Murphy left her for Liz Parker!" A familiar voice whispered in her ear, and for the briefest moment Maria felt tingles running down her spine. "I affect you as I affect the others don't I?"   
  
"I am more advanced than the others. You do not affect me" Maria turned to look her mentor in the eye as she tried desperately to quell the fluttering of her stomach. Michael had an affect on her all right, but she would die before admitting to it!  
  
"Pity" He spoke simply, as his hand curled around her elbow. "Come, we need to talk"  
  
"About this?" She gestured to the protestors as they waved placards with deformed pictures of her, Isabel and Liz making Michael smile slightly as he tugged her toward him.  
  
"No. Someone is coming, I want you to be prepared"  
  
"Is the person important?"  
  
Michael smiled fondly at Maria as she looked up at him, the black veil shadowing her face like an eclipse to the sun.   
  
"Maybe. I'd prefer to answer your questions in the flesh. Where-"  
  
"My body is in the top floor library restroom. Third cubicle on the left" Maria watched carefully as Michael let go of her before fading slowly from sight. After a moment, Maria too disappeared but not before one of the jocks next to her shivered slightly.  
  
  
"Witches out! Lesbians out! Witches out! Heathens out!"  
  
"Man talk about witch hunt!" Kyle Valenti murmured under his breath as the entire cheerleading squad marched up and down the school grounds wearing practically nothing as they tried to convince the school body that three of them were indeed witches. Apparently it was working, because the crowd around them was increasing practically by the second, and was it him or was it getting colder-  
  
"I wonder where the girls are?" Alex turned to his friend with a worried look on his face, his brown hair ruffled as he ran his hands through it for the hundredth time. "This is scary for me, and it's not even about me!"  
  
"If they have any sense they're probably hiding. I'm starving lets go get a taco" Kyle pulled Alex slightly but his friend didn't respond, his icy blue eyes staring off into the distance at someone who looked suspiciously like Isabel Evans.  
  
"You go I'll catch up. I have someone I want to see" Without even taking his bag, Alex jogged quickly from the crowd, making Kyle roll his eyes in annoyance before he hoisted Alex's bag over a shoulder.  
  
Poison Ivy  
  
The hunter and the hunted, for millions of years, permeated the meaning of the universe and for the longest time he believed in that meaning. Until he met her, until she had taken his soul in the two seconds it had taken for him to catch a glimpse of her dark brown eyes, dancing from under an expensive silk scarf.   
  
  
"Move out of my way!"  
  
"Beautiful as well as polite. I am sure you do your mother proud"  
  
"For your information I have no mother. Now let me past, I won't ask you again!"  
  
A slight smile crossed his face, as he let the cold air caress his overheated skin. He was in his cabin, with the air conditioning on full blast and a can of beer balanced precariously against his flat washboard stomach as he allowed its icy coolness to diffuse into his body. This had become a daily ritual for him ever since he'd arrived to New Mexico three weeks ago- ten mile run at high noon, followed by a hot shower and then laying naked in front of his AC unit for half an hour reminiscing before eating a cold lunch comprised mostly of lima beans pasta, and if he was lucky the odd morsel of chicken.  
  
"At least give me your name before you leave"  
  
"Tell me, are all Americans as brash and offensive as you?"  
  
"Only around beautiful company such as yourself, so what is your name?"  
  
"Maximus. Maximus Christofides"  
  
"Greek- I like"  
  
Alex was a quick runner. He had to be growing up, otherwise there was no way he'd have been able to escape Mr Greene as he roamed the dormitory corridors at night spying on the boys as they slept. Sometimes he even came in, armed with a sedative as his eyes raked across each of their sleeping faces, trying to decide which one to take away that night.  
  
Luckily he had never been chosen.  
  
"Wait!" Alex shouted as he finally caught up with Isabel. She was fast, faster than most of the guys in the track team Kyle had made him join, but not fast enough, and with a slight smirk he lunged.  
  
"Who is coming?" Maria asked softly, absently flexing her rapidly stiffening arms, as she tried to focus on what Michael was saying instead of the tight muscles of his back as they coiled under her touch. They were sitting in her chair, her on his lap, in the relative privacy of the empty football field as far from the protest march as they could get whilst still being in school.   
  
"I'll tell you later. Can't we talk first?" Michael whispered in her ear, his warm breath instantly causing her stomach to flutter. "We haven't talked properly since you were ten"  
  
"Whose fault is that?" Maria asked softly in Spanish, her fingers delicately tracing patterns over his shoulder, the thin gauzy black shirt he was wearing doing little to prevent his warmth from seeping through. "From what I remember, you had better things to do with your time than taking care of a frightened little girl"  
  
"I'm here now aren't I?" Maria let out a small sigh as he ran a hand through her hair. He was using his magic she could feel the power as it diffused from his palm, creating a haze of sexual confusion as it seeped into her mind. Attraction was his strength his power- and he used it on all three of them whenever he could. It kept them loyal.   
  
"Don't do that" She pushed against him slightly, her head swimming as she tried to control her jumbled feelings. This was the first time she'd been completely alone with him in years. Usually he came when she was with Liz, and after relaying whatever message the otherworldly had sent him with, he spent the whole day flirting with her dark haired friend before disappearing again. Michael had never willingly wanted to spend time with Maria before. Not even during those dark nights she'd spent blind and unable to walk in a dirty Venezuelan hospital convinced she was going to die-  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because you can't-" Inhaling sharply, Maria raised her emerald eyes to his and willed herself to meet his gaze. "You can't just walk into my life expecting everything to be normal again. I was eleven years old Michael, do you know what it's like to be burnt at the stake at eleven and not even know why? I thought I was going to die-"  
  
"You didn't" He whispered faintly, gently unhooking the heavy black veil she always wore over her face to hide the burns. She wanted to stop him, but for some reason, her mind wouldn't work, making her watch silently as the thick cloth fluttered softly onto the grass.   
  
"I-"  
  
She wanted to tell him to stop, that kissing her burnt face was only going to make her hate him more, but her lips didn't- couldn't- move. Eventually their mouths met, and under a spell of confusion, Maria expressed every single emotion he wouldn't allow her to with words.  
  
  
Crossroads: Super Information Highway  
  
"What do you want to tell me?" Maria asked softly, her hands trembling as she carefully hooked her veil in place. He was staring at her, his deep brown gaze burning her with its intensity as he watched her.   
  
"Why do you hide behind that thing?" His low voice made her jump slightly, but that loss of control was quickly masked, replaced with cold detachedness.   
  
"I'm scarred, or haven't you noticed?" She spoke icily, her eyes gliding across his face for a moment before returning to her hands. During their passionate clinch, he had exposed just about every inch of her body that he could, his hands exploring, his lips tasting- he had even unwound the spandex around her hands, his eyes devouring each of the marks, lumps, scars- suddenly, his large warm hands encased hers lightly, before raising them to his lips, making tears fill her eyes.   
  
"There is someone coming from the East and the North-", He whispered, gently, pushing a strand of her silver hair behind an ear. "They will both try to separate the void but whereas the North is stronger, the East has power"  
  
  
Isabel ran as fast as she could, lungs burning, from the acidic fumes of the freshwater lake she knew was nearby, as her eyes desperately scanned the sparse woodland for any kind of escape.   
  
"Wait!" The person chasing her, shouted loudly, making her choke, he was close- before she could finish the thought however, she felt a hard shove making her fall instantly onto the rocky ground.  
  
  
"Vegetarian taco and large OJ"  
  
Kyle huffed his order as he slid into a seat at the counter, ignoring the waitress's admiring glance as she left to get his food. He'd taken his jacket off almost the moment he got onto the main road due to the intense summer heat. Of course it hadn't been enough, and he was forced to take off at least three layers of clothing before he reached the restaurant completely topless, his Levi's hanging low on his hips, just showing the top of his Calvin Klein underwear-  
  
"Calvin Klein. I approve"   
  
Kyle turned around quickly, his damp hair making a slight swishing sound as he glared at a small girl, leaning on the counter next to him, her streaked black and white hair twinkling blue under the dim lighting. Great, he sighed slightly, that was all he needed, a Goth-  
  
"Did I ask for your approval?" He asked snidely as a waitress plopped a large orange juice in front of him. Within moments he'd downed it, the ice-cold liquid doing wonders for his overheated body. "Another OJ" He pushed his empty glass in front of the waitress, who, after rolling her eyes extravagantly picked it up and went to get him some juice.  
  
"And they say chivalry is dead-" The girl next to him gasped in mock surprise as she sat up slowly, twisting her body around to get a better look at Kyle who was now impatiently drumming his fingers on the countertop, watching as the waitress filled his glass in the orange juice dispenser.   
  
"Did I say you could talk to me? Go annoy someone else!"   
  
"But I want to annoy you-" The girl smiled broadly, inching her way closer to him, her deep blue lips instantly catching his attention. If it wasn't for the weird lip-gloss they could almost be sexy- he watched as her hand caressed his arm, her small slender fingers dancing across his tanned skin. "And I want to do it privately. How about it Kyle?" Her voice deepened suddenly, and for the briefest moment he swore her hand was glowing-  
  
"What-" He blinked rapidly, at her hand, instinctively recoiling from her, but she tightened her grip, pulling him violently and capturing his mouth in a bruising kiss.   
  
Masquerading Under Broad Daylight  
  
She was livid.  
  
Under the circumstances, Alex couldn't blame her. After all, he had chased her for practically three miles through the woods before leaping on her like some sort of animal probably breaking three of her ribs on impact-  
  
Maybe Kyle was right maybe he was a stalker-a tall skinny, extremely fast stalker who chased the object of his affections through the woods just to ask her how she was coping with the protest march.  
  
The more he thought about it the more he wanted the ground to just open up and swallow him whole.   
  
"You attacked me! Do you know I could go to the Sheriff with this and have you arrested?" Isabel shouted. "That was assault- you assaulted me!"  
  
Alex nodded, not taking his eyes off his shoes.   
  
"Not to mention you scared the shit out of me! What, did you think by catching the witch, everyone would think you were some kind of hero?" Isabel's voice suddenly broke, and glancing up, Alex was horrified to discover her close to tears.  
  
"I- I-" He tried to explain, but for some reason his voice box stopped working.   
  
"I know I'm different, but that doesn't give you the right to persecute me. I have feelings too-I- forget it. You're not worth it" Running a hand through her hair, Isabel took a deep breath, and Alex watched sheepishly as she wiped her mascara streaked cheeks.   
  
"I'm sorry", He murmured softly, but either she didn't hear, or she ignored him, because within seconds she was running back towards the school.  
  
This time Alex didn't go after her.  
  
  
Liz sighed when she finally pulled off the last banner from her jeep only to see a black swastika spray painted across the hood. This was definitely not one of her better days.  
  
"Want some help?" A high voice snickered behind her. Liz didn't need to turn around to know who it was- Courtney.  
  
"Not thank you. I have it covered" Liz replied languidly, as she walked towards the driver's side. However, before she could open the door, a small hand blocked the keyhole, and it took Liz all her willpower not to smash the key straight through the girl's wrist.   
  
"Look at me when I'm talking to you, bitch"  
  
Biting her lip, Liz turned slightly to face Courtney, her deep brown eyes blazing as they focussed on the girl's own pale blue orbs.   
  
"What do you want?" Liz asked softly, feeling proud that she managed to keep her voice level.   
  
"Leave. Take the two freaks with you, and never come back again. There're plenty of schools in New Mexico that cater for whore and sluts like-" However Courtney never got to finish. Within seconds Liz had her pinned to the jeep, her hands bruising the girl's wrists in a grip only slightly tempered by magic.  
  
"Don't mess with me Courtney" Liz whispered. "You will not like the consequences"  
  
"What'll you do? Turn me into a pig?" Courtney laughed loudly, before squealing when Liz's grip tightened.  
  
"Transmutation is not what I have in mind for you-" Before Liz finished speaking, her eyes flashed red for the briefest moment making Courtney's mouth open wide in horror.   
  
"You- you're- you're-"  
  
"A witch? No!" With a smirk, Liz's mouth descended onto the curve of Courtney's pale neck.  
  
No one heard the girl's terrified screams in the empty parking lot.  
  
  
Fox In Sheep's Clothing  
  
Hands trembling, Liz managed to park the jeep some distance away from the latest in the long line of Parker mansions. Blood, dripped down from her lips, like fine wine onto her expensive silk blouse, and despite the horror of what she'd done, Liz wanted nothing more than to go back, to the secluded car park where Courtney Hart lay between life and death, and finish the job.  
  
Even now, the annoying cheerleader's blood sang to her. Calling her with its sweet melody, beckoning, luring, tempting-   
  
"God, it was a bad idea. I'm so stupid!"   
  
Slamming her head against the steering wheel, Liz tried to fight the hunger raging like wildfire in the pit of her stomach. It was always like this, straight after the kill, or in this case an almost one, part of her was repentant, while another was defiant, wanting nothing more than to taste the forbidden fruit again. It was the second part she tried to keep in check. But it was a losing battle especially with no one else to confide in.  
  
No one else understood the thirst. Maria and Isabel were witches, while Michael a warlock- they didn't have to live with the constant ache for something so unholy, so- biting her lip, Liz forced herself to suck in a deep breath. It calmed her somewhat, but did little to quench the thirst.   
  
"You drew blood. Impressive"  
  
Liz didn't need to turn around to know it was Michael perched on the hood of the jeep, swinging his legs with a hint of a smile on his full lips. "Though a small memory loss spell would've worked just as well, I like the style of a good old fashioned bloodbath!"   
  
"Shut up!" Running a hand through her knotted black hair, Liz ignored Michael when he approached her. His hands brushing tenderly against her elbows and although she tried to resist, but couldn't stop the magic clouding her brain.   
  
"You don't need to feel guilty" Michael whispered, grazing her lips with his. "She's a Human- they're inconsequential"  
  
"Easy for you to say" Liz murmured gazing into his deep brown eyes. "You don't live among them!"   
  
"I did once, and even then I hated them" Michael whispered, breaking away from her for the slightest moment before holding out his hand. "Come on, I'll walk you home"  
  
Smiling, Liz took his hand.  
  
  
"The fire is ready sir"  
  
"Good"  
  
"Would you like anything else sir?"  
  
"No. Thank you, but I think I'll handle it from here"  
  
"As you wish"  
  
The flames licked dry timber, dark smoke spiralling out of control into the night sky. Tendrils of grey smoke curled upwards, and then outward, enveloping the crowd gathered around the stake, in an impenetrable fog.  
  
He couldn't see their faces, and in turn they could not see his. Just as well, for he'd been unable to stop crying since he got there.   
  
"Max?" She lay on the ground. Hands bound by leather that cut into the soft skin of her wrists. Tears glistened in her enchanting brown eyes, and almost instinctively he lifted her up into his arms. She was weightless.  
  
"What is it?" Max asked softly, brushing his lips against a silky smooth cheek. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to watch her die, screaming in agony as red-hot flames chastised the tender skin that had him entranced from the moment they met.   
  
"I can feel the stars when you are near me. I hear the moonlight whisper, why is that?" Spoken in a fragile whisper, tears clouded her eyes. "I love you, yet you wish to kill me, why is that Max?"  
  
"Destiny" A fine mist of smoke and tears blinded him a moment, as he walked over to the blazing pyre. The heat scorched in its vapour. "I shall love you an eternity" He murmured against the soft silkiness of her hair. "Always"  
  
"Promise?" Brown eyes searched his, pleading, and he nodded pausing a long moment to memorise every detail of her perfect face. Painting the moment into memory in the livid hues of reality until she was all he could see, feel, hear, smell, taste-  
  
Intoxicated in her essence, he didn't notice the sharp stinging of the blood red flames as he reached out to place his most precious bundle in amongst the heat. He didn't even hear her screams- his ears instead attuned to that beautiful voice he had heard when he first climbed off the boat.   
  
"Beautiful as well as polite. I am sure you do your mother proud"  
  
  
Local News  
  
Local Girl Dies After Attack In School  
  
The body of a young girl was found yesterday morning in the car park of West Roswell High. Although an official statement has yet to be released by the police it is believed she died from massive blood loss...  
  
What Has The World Come To  
  
Yesterday morning at 9am, janitor James West made the gruesome discovery that shocked the entire state of New Mexico. Courtney Hart, barely seventeen, with her entire life ahead of her, was found by the 40 yr old former New Yorker as he made last minute ground checks on the car park of West Roswell High.  
  
'She was just lying there. At first I thought it was a puppet, the drama department usually leave them out there [in the car park] for me to pick up, but then I saw the blood. God there was so much blood.'  
  
Courtney Hart was a socially active girl. Head cheerleader for her school football team, president of the student body, as well as choirgirl at St Mary's chapel in Wood-green, she led a full and enriched life that was brutally cut short by a monster...  
  
Police Plead For Witnesses In Tragic Courtney Case  
  
Sheriff James Valenti of the Roswell city police department has pleaded for anyone with any useful information to come forward in what has been dubbed the most disturbing New Mexican case this century. Although it has now been more than three days since the pretty cheerleader was found face down in her own blood, the Sheriff's department has yet to find a strong lead...  
  
Christen Crusaders: Courtney's Loss Will Be Felt  
  
Courtney Hart although only 17, led a wholesome life uncommon in today's sinful world. A devout Catholic, she spent almost every afternoon helping out the understaffed soup kitchens at St Mary's chapel in Wood-green, her local church. According to Father Garret Tyler, Courtney was a regular at Sunday mass, proudly singing the good lord's word as head of the choristers and many of the congregation grew to love and cherish the young girl as a flower bud of hope amongst a woodland of sinful weeds. As Agatha Germaine quotes: "Courtney signified the redemption of today's youth. She will be sorely missed"  
  
Born in Rosemary Hill, a major city in North Carolina, Courtney moved to Roswell at the age of three, when her mother- Anne Marie Hart, remarried to George Tompkins following the death of her first husband and Courtney's father in a tragic tractor accident. As Anne stated, so impassionedly on 'Live With Weiberman' the young family moved to Roswell so 'Courtney could live a life free from the dangers of city life'. It is a tragedy then, that the very dangers the Tompkins family tried to shield their daughter from, claimed her life. As editor of this magazine I have merely six words to say to the fiend who did this to Courtney Hart. May the devil take your soul.   
  
  
Broken China Dolls  
  
Teresa, or Tess as she liked to be known, smiled as she ran her fingers across the young boy's abdomen. The rock hard muscles quivered under the dancing touch, but other than that he didn't move. Grey-blue eyes staring wide at her seeing and yet completely blind. The boy, Kyle she thought his name was, was totally under her power and the realisation made the small woman squirm in desire.  
  
He was powerless under her, strong chisled body rendered useless by a mixture of witch and warlock magic. A wry smile twisted her face gruesomely as she began to kiss a trail down from Kyle's neck, brushing his beautifully tanned skin softly with her lips. A few strands of her black and silver hair slide onto his chest as she suckled on the heated flesh, teasing it further. The boy broke out in a cold sweat, the beads of perspiration on his skin, only further heightening the experience for her.  
  
"How do you like this?" She murmured, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck, fingers inching their way down to the waistband of his blue Levis. "You've always wanted to be a man haven't you? Well now's your chance, but I'm in charge Kyle" Saccharine sweet, her voice was husky in a mixture of power and primal lust. Slowly sliding a small hand into the front of his jeans, Tess gazed into Kyle's eyes carefully, a ghost of a smile lifting her lips when they darkened to a deep shade of brown. Inching her mouth so it hovered a kiss away from his, she let out a sigh, delighting in the imperceptible tightening of his jaw, when her hot breath caressed his soft, supple lips. "I'm always in charge-" With a slight smile, she crashed her lips down onto his, devouring his mouth in a violent kiss that sent a cool breeze rattling through the dark room, as though a messenger of doom.  
  
Maria watched sadly as Liz and Isabel did each other's make up while Michael reluctantly did up the silver buttons of a black silk waistcoat he wore over a matching shirt and an expensive looking pair of black pants. The jacket and tie to go with the sombre outfit were hanging across the back of one of Amy's high wood backed chairs. The three of them were going to the Spring Ball, Isabel with some football jock who had yet to show up, and Liz with Michael.   
  
As usual the two girls in front of her looked beautiful. Isabel's face had been scrubbed free of makeup, and her hair left loose down her back in long waves of shimmering gold. The emerald dress she wore, clung to a body like a second skin and plunged in all the right places, making her look like a princess. She had even caught Michael staring at the tall statuesque blonde, when he thought no one was looking-  
  
"There perfect!" Isabel grinned at Liz as she finally stopped applying mascara onto the diminutive brunette's long thick eyelashes. They looked even thicker now, if it were possible, and Maria couldn't help biting her lip when she realised Michael was openly staring at his date. He looked entranced by the curve of her neck where wispy tendrils of ebony floated down to meet her slender shoulder, exposed fully by the completely sleeveless black dress that encased her body in its clingy silk. "You look beautiful Liz!" Isabel clapped her hands, before turning to Michael. "She looks wonderful, doesn't she Michael?"  
  
Suddenly finding herself unable to watch, Maria manoeuvred herself as quietly as possible from the kitchen, tears filling her green eyes. Completely missing Michael's reply.  
  
  
"One milk- with ice, and one strawberry shortcake. Anything else?" The waitress asked with a sneer. When Max shook his head, she stalked back to the counter, a cigarette hanging limply from her narrow lips. This was his first time into Roswell, since he first arrived to New Mexico, the need for company finally overcoming the solitary etiquette he'd followed almost religiously for the past God knows how long.   
  
The Crashdown café was at the heart of Roswell's bustling town centre, and as a consequence was full of people of all walks of life, talking, eating, arguing, smooching, and doing all the other things humans loved to do in a restaurant on a Monday evening. From where he sat, in the furthermost booth from the door, he could see a young family laughing and joking whilst they ate a wholesome meal of pasta and salad. Husband and wife discretely playing footsy under the table whilst one of their two yellow haired children recounted what happened at kindergarten that day. Watching them, so in love, brought tears to his eyes but he refused to shed them, as he methodically cut the strawberry shortcake into perfect little squares with his knife. Somewhere beyond the periphery of his vision, he heard the main door ring, and a female voice lamenting about a dance, but he paid no notice. His mind was already wondering, back to the past, when he'd tasted strawberry shortcake for the first time-  
  
"What is that?"  
  
"I heard you liked shortcake so I made you some"  
  
"It's pink!"  
  
"Don't be a baby- there're only strawberries, come on try a bit-"  
  
"No, I-"  
  
"Please?"  
  
A smile lifted the corners of his mouth as he remembered how she'd used those beautiful honey brown eyes to guilt him into trying a piece. Of course, like all of her cooking, it tasted awful, but the smile on her face as he ate prompted him to eat some more, until eventually the thick ceramic plate in front of him was empty, and he thought he was going to be sick.   
  
Putting down his fork, Max gazed at the half eaten shortcake in front of him- it tasted wonderful, which was the problem. He wanted it to be too sweet- he yearned for the short cake to be too hard and greasy on the outside and uncooked in the centre, for the icing to make him gag, for- closing his eyes, Max placed his elbows onto the bright red table as a tear trickled down his cheek. Most of all, he wanted her, the love of his life in front of him, grinning from ear to ear, as he ate, but he knew that was never going to happen.  
  
Pushing back the chair violently, Max stood up, hands shaking as he pulled a fifty out of his jeans pocket and placed it by his untouched glass of milk. He had to get out of here, he had- running a hand through his floppy brown hair, Max pulled his jacket from the booth, before running as fast as he could out of the restaurant. It was only when he was outside, in the alley behind the Crashdown that he allowed himself to cry.  
  
Prom Night Massacre  
  
"So, want to tell me the real reason you allowed me to drag you here?" Liz whispered in Michael's ear as he pulled her closer. Pale pink light danced across his face, sharpening those angular cheekbones until they resembled daggers. Even his eyes were hard, unyielding, uncompromising but at that moment she didn't care. Her mind felt foggy, and the almost frightening expression on his face didn't bother her, instead it sent tingles down her spine, and desire flooding throughout her body.   
  
"I wanted to see you in a dress" He looked down into her eyes, and unable to control herself, Liz reached up on her tiptoes and grazed his lips with hers. Giggling when he turned away. "What?"  
  
"You're up to something aren't you?" She asked resting her head lightly against his chest. "I can feel-" However, Michael didn't let her continue, instead pulling her face up almost forcefully to his in a mind-blowing passionate kiss.  
  
"Hey, Whitman, where's Valenti?" Peter Crane, one of the larger guys off the wrestling team, slapped Alex's back whilst his cheerleader date hung back, paper cup of spiked punch in hand as she grinned manically at him.   
  
"Gone to Mexico for a while to see his Mom!" Alex shouted over the music, before making his way as quickly as possible from them lest they made him join in any jock activities. Being popular was never something he had strived for, preferring instead the quiet solitude that came with anonymity. He didn't even know why he bothered coming to the prom.  
  
"I don't care what you read, I'm not that kind of girl!"  
  
"Yeah right and I'm Mother fuckin' Teresa!"  
  
"It's true, I- ow!"  
  
A girl's scream muffled by the music suddenly made Alex stop. Instinctively he knew it was Isabel and he ran as fast as he could outside where he could just make out Isabel trying to get away from her date. He was about to try and help her when suddenly out of nowhere a man appeared by her side and raised his hand. Within seconds Isabel's date had vanished in a cloud of smoke that wafted into Alex's nostrils making him cough and widen his eyes at the same time. He instantly recognised the smell-   
  
Sulphur-  
  
"You should really go out more Maria. Cooping yourself up isn't going to solve anything" Amy spoke softly, as they ate, her voice barely carrying over the small pine table and Maria tried her hardest to ignore her, focussing instead on the fork she held tightly in her hands.   
  
"I like it inside" Maria enunciated each word as she cut up her sweet potato pie, before parting her veil just a little to eat a piece. Like all Amy's cooking, it tasted wonderful.  
  
"No you don't, I can spot loneliness faster than-"  
  
"I said I was OK, now please let me eat!" She raised her voice slightly, immediately making Amy stop talking. Hating to shout, Maria immediately felt a swell of guilt rise as bile to her throat, and with a sigh, she put her fork aside before wheeling out of the kitchen as carefully as she could.  
  
When Michael left with Liz, something inside of her broke, she'd felt a snap- a part of her thought it was her heart at the same time as another told her that wasn't possible. She didn't love Michael she hated him.  
  
"I hate him. I hate him. I-" Murmuring to herself, Maria eventually reached her room, opening the door as quietly as she could before manoeuvring her large, clunky chair inside.   
  
After entering America, for treatment, Maria was adopted by one of her doctors, Amy Deluca, in the hope that if she lived here, then her injuries would mend quickly. Of course, like the rest of Maria's life, that was a lie. For Maria's injuries there was no cure, either in witchcraft or medicine.   
  
"How many times have I told you be positive?" Michael's voice made her start, in shock, and with a gasp she turned her head slightly to see him sitting cross-legged on her bed, wearing his trademark gauzy black short sleeved shirt and pants. "Everything can be mended if you think it can," He whispered quietly, deep chocolate eyes staring at her without their usual arrogance. "Thought is a powerful tool"  
  
"Aren't you supposed to be at the Ball?" Tearing her eyes from his, Maria wheeled herself over to her dresser, picking up her brush. However, before she could use it, a green light flashed all around her, until she eventually found herself on Michael's lap, in his arms, as he nuzzled her shoulder.  
  
"I was bored" He murmured into her ear, kissing the lobe fleetingly before tilting her head slightly so she faced him. For the longest moment, Maria just stared at him, mesmerised by the depth of his dark eyes, the curve of his jaw, the outline of his full lips. Instinctively reaching out, she outlined his bottom lip with her thumb, marvelling at its soft, supple smoothness.   
  
"Liz is probably missing you" Maria whispered, leaning closer, until her breasts just grazed his muscular chest. She wanted to kiss him, hold him, make him promise never to leave her, make him love her, like she loved- shaking her head suddenly, Maria pushed herself away from him until she fell onto the ground. He was using his powers she could feel it he was trying to manipulate her again-   
  
"What're you doing, what-" Michael tried to gather her up into his arms, but she slapped his hands away.  
  
"Don't you dare- I told you before not to use your powers on me, I warned you-"  
  
"I didn't" The expression on his face was terrifying. He looked almost hurt, but Maria refused to let it affect her. It was another trick.   
  
"Leave. Just leave me alone, please" Tears streamed down her cheeks as she turned away from him. "Please" She begged, and eventually Michael complied. A shower of green and silver sparks rained over her sobbing figure as he left, leaving Maria alone in her rapidly darkening room.  
  
Souls  
  
Michael stood alone in the centre of the desert, his bare feet rooted deep inside the sand as tears of an emotion he'd kept hidden for almost eternity, rolled down his cheeks.   
  
"You have failed!" A voice boomed from an unknown point between the acid green heavens and the barren earth. "Michael the great. Michael the Druid has failed that which gave him life. Pray failure, what do you have to say for yourself?"  
  
The translucent image of a little girl appeared gradually before him, at the same time as the sand burying his ankles, wound itself up as hands to creep up each of his sturdy legs and around his waist.   
  
"Please, let me go- I-" He tried to speak, but the young girl silenced him with a kiss to his dusty, tear stained lips.   
  
"It was asked of you to take guardianship of the child. To take her under you wing and teach her our ways- the way of the Craft, was it not?" She asked softly, blonde hair billowing behind her in a halo of gold. Standing there, staring at him, she looked so much like Maria, but he knew she wasn't. Maria's eyes didn't glint yellow in anger.  
  
"Yes but-"  
  
"Shh" She placed a small hand against his mouth preventing him from speaking before cupping his face in her tiny hands, lowering it down to hers. "All your secrets are known," The non-Maria whispered. "You fell in love, you let your souls mingle but for a moment-" She kissed his chin, making him close his eyes in disgust. This was not how he wanted to see his little angel, his Maria, the girl he'd so stupidly fallen in love. "You are frightened of taking her innocence, but a job was asked of you Michael- you were told to protect her but she was staked-"  
  
"She lives" Michael whispered throatily, his eyes still closed.   
  
"By a thread. You should have done your job, virginity can be replaced" The apparition drew closer, her yellow eyes softening to a dull green. "Innocence can be restored, life cannot"  
  
The words of the non-Maria echoed through the desert before she disappeared, plunging the entire landscape into inky darkness.  
  
"Sweetie, look what I got you"  
  
He watched unseen in the realm between darkness and twilight, as the doctor gave Maria a toy. It was a white fluffy bear, covered in plastic film to match its new owner. "See he's just like you"  
  
"Where's Michael?" The tiny girl asked in a small voice, ignoring the toy and he felt something snap inside his chest. "I want Michael"   
  
The doctor was about to reply, when his pager went off, and cursing he left the room, leaving Maria all alone in the darkened room, a translucent white film covering the right side of her body. She looked, to Michael at least, like a broken doll, and unable to stay hidden for long, he materialised by her side.  
  
However, no sooner had he done so, then the small child fell asleep, a thumb curled into her mouth while the white bear lay untouched by her feet. Suddenly, overcome with emotion, Michael caressed the remnants of her long shiny yellow locks carefully before placing a feather light kiss against a blotched cheek murmuring something incomprehensible before vanishing in an implosion of green and silver.  
  
  
"I need retribution!" He yelled loudly, his voice shaking both heaven and earth. The others just stared disinterestedly waiting for the tremors to stop. He didn't expect them to understand, they weren't the last of a generation predicted to roam the galaxy for a millennia. They hadn't been lied to. They didn't have to see death first hand- picking, selecting their kin until only one remained.  
  
"You shall receive it" A small voice, barely audible amongst the rattling of bones and metal. It soothed, brought him out of a self-induced haze. Opening darkest brown eyes, he started when finding himself in another land. Sky molten green, sickly in its perversion of nature, sand everywhere as far as the eye could see and in the centre a child kneeling, yellow hair blowing across a cherubic face doing a poor job hiding eyes as piercing as the sharpest emerald.  
  
Beauty didn't even come close to describing the small girl looking up at him with enchanted eyes. White gauze flowed past naked shoulders in a parody of the ancient Gor'dic wedding dress.  
  
"Who're you?" He asked softly, voice gravely, eyes as muted as molten granite.  
  
"Your saviour, bow down to me!" Using a small, bewitched hand the child beckoned him forward and he suddenly found himself, catapulted to her until eventually his face was buried in the hot sand by her naked feet. He tried to sit up, but the force of a thousand winds prevented him from moving. He was trapped.  
  
"Why am I here?"  
  
"You're the nameless Gor'dic, the last of the truest Druids. Your majicks run deep and far- your reputation precedes you child"  
  
"Set me free I need revenge!" Speaking muffled against bitter sand, he tried to sit but couldn't. The magical child had him prisoner.  
  
"From whom? The Scots? The Christians? The Romans?" A light, almost fleeting touch to his neck made him close his eyes. "They each had a part to play in the demise of your species. They each are to blame but you cannot do anything until their blood merges as one into one dirty pitcher of darkest mire. You may not do anything until they inbreed so far any hopes of salvation have diminished. You will not do anything until the last of their magic has disappeared, and even then you shall wait for our order. Is that understood?" She asked, and he was compelled to agree. With a slight nod, suddenly he found himself able to move, but when he opened his eyes, instead of finding himself in acidic desert he lay in the open atrium of a home made of gold and jewels.  
  
"This is where you shall stay" The soft whisper echoed in his mind, and before he could stop himself, the last of the Gor'dic tribe fell into deepest slumber. "Now sleep child. Sleep until the faintest murmurings of natures past and present awaken you refreshed and full of revitalised energies. Sleep until you feel the need to sleep no more"  
  
  
  



End file.
